NYU v. UChicago---help!

[ccstarburst25]

I was wondering if anyone with experience at NYU or UChicago could give me advice on which school I should choose. I had tentatively committed to UChicago and was getting very excited about it until I received my acceptance to NYU this week. Now, I am very torn between the two. I currently live in NYC and know I want to come back after law school, so I'm debating whether I should just stay in NY the whole time or go to Chicago for a few years since I want to come back anyways. Should I leave my life behind and move to Chicago or stay??

Here are some of my concerns:
 First, about the size... NYU is a lot bigger than Chicago (chicago has only 180 kids
per class v. 400 at NYU). Do you think NYU students have good access to professors?
The size is something that UChicago really stresses as one of their strengths, so I'm trying to see how a bigger school would be different. It does seem like NYU has more to offer in terms of programs, centers of research, journals, etc. because there are more people.

Also, I had a question about competition for NY firm jobs. At NYU, I'm assuming that most people want to stay in New York and work for a firm. Do you find that it's harder to get jobs just because everyone wants the same ones? People at UChicago like to say that not everyone will want to go to NY and there are less people in the Chicago class in general, so it's easier to get a good firm job.

Last, about clerking...Chicago really likes to talk about how so many Chicago graduates have clerkship opportunities. Does NYU have the same level of opportunties?

THANK YOU!

[lyrarain]

There was a post recently that covered clerkships. Out of it came some links, most interesting to me was this one, which shows that from 1991-2001 Chicago was fourth behind HYS with 50 Supreme Court clerkships, while NYU had 9 (my intended, UVA, had 15). The SCOTUS clerkship is the most prestigious and usually comes after doing a lower level federal clerkship, so I guess those Chicagans must do a lot of clerking.
http://www.utexas.edu/law/faculty/bleiter/rankings02/clerkships.html

The post: http://www.lawschooldiscussion.org/prelaw/index.php/topic,33959.msg547251/topicseen.html#msg547251

I guess the size at Chicago sounds good. I would pick NYU, but that's for my own reasons (I didn't even apply to schools in Chicago).

I have a question for you though--did NYU take until this week to get back to you, or did you get in off the waitlist? If you got in off the waitlist, would you mind sharing your GPA/LSAT and anything you did to express interest?

Good luck!

[ccstarburst25]

I was on the waitlist and just received an acceptance from them on Tuesday. I had sent them an update letter about myself and my recent activities about a month ago but didn't do anything else. gpa: 3.75, lsat: 166 and 172

[Boston24]

I was on the waitlist and just received an acceptance from them on Tuesday. I had sent them an update letter about myself and my recent activities about a month ago but didn't do anything else. gpa: 3.75, lsat: 166 and 172

I got in off the wait list yesterday.  Are you able to log into the admitted students site?  It's not letting me.  Also, do you have any idea about aid?  Are we only eligible for financial aid, not merit?

[_____]

I was wondering if anyone with experience at NYU or UChicago could give me advice on which school I should choose. I had tentatively committed to UChicago and was getting very excited about it until I received my acceptance to NYU this week. Now, I am very torn between the two. I currently live in NYC and know I want to come back after law school, so I'm debating whether I should just stay in NY the whole time or go to Chicago for a few years since I want to come back anyways. Should I leave my life behind and move to Chicago or stay??

Here are some of my concerns:
 First, about the size... NYU is a lot bigger than Chicago (chicago has only 180 kids
per class v. 400 at NYU). Do you think NYU students have good access to professors?
The size is something that UChicago really stresses as one of their strengths, so I'm trying to see how a bigger school would be different. It does seem like NYU has more to offer in terms of programs, centers of research, journals, etc. because there are more people.

Also, I had a question about competition for NY firm jobs. At NYU, I'm assuming that most people want to stay in New York and work for a firm. Do you find that it's harder to get jobs just because everyone wants the same ones? People at UChicago like to say that not everyone will want to go to NY and there are less people in the Chicago class in general, so it's easier to get a good firm job.

Last, about clerking...Chicago really likes to talk about how so many Chicago graduates have clerkship opportunities. Does NYU have the same level of opportunties?

THANK YOU!

I say, unless you want to do international law, stick with Chicago.  It is considered "the Harvard of the Heartland" and has an excellent reputation on many levels.  NYU is up there in the rankings in general these days, but their points for reputation alone (which represent the opinions of the lawyers and judges currently out there) are lower than those of Chicago. 

Therefore,  unless you want international law, stick with Chicago. Given that Chicago has had a longer reputation in the top 10, the ONE spot on the rankings scale makes NO difference unless you're interested in their particular strengths. It has a solider reputation, and I don't think getting back to New York would be a problem.  (If you had never lived in NY, that might be a different story, but you have lived there, so don't worry about it...)

[tacojohn]

I say go to Chicago.  Basically, I think the real decision here is do you want to be surrounded (outside of the law school) by artists or academics.  I would just go to Chicago so you can see if you like another city.  Perhaps you'll fall more in love with Chicago.

[V00Jeff]

I would say:

1) If you want to clerk or go into academia, go with Chicago.

2) Unless you want to do international law, in which case, go to NYU.

3) If you have no desire to clerk or go into academia and don't care about international law, pick whichever city/environment/school you like better.  I've read that Chicago actually places better in NYC firms, but I think that the difference is is so minute that it's not worth making your decision on. 

[Amanda H.]

There was a post recently that covered clerkships. Out of it came some links, most interesting to me was this one, which shows that from 1991-2001 Chicago was fourth behind HYS with 50 Supreme Court clerkships, while NYU had 9 (my intended, UVA, had 15). The SCOTUS clerkship is the most prestigious and usually comes after doing a lower level federal clerkship, so I guess those Chicagans must do a lot of clerking.
http://www.utexas.edu/law/faculty/bleiter/rankings02/clerkships.html

The post: http://www.lawschooldiscussion.org/prelaw/index.php/topic,33959.msg547251/topicseen.html#msg547251

I guess the size at Chicago sounds good. I would pick NYU, but that's for my own reasons (I didn't even apply to schools in Chicago).

I have a question for you though--did NYU take until this week to get back to you, or did you get in off the waitlist? If you got in off the waitlist, would you mind sharing your GPA/LSAT and anything you did to express interest?

Good luck!

This is incorrect -- but only because Chicago is THIRD in SCOTUS clerkships, not 4th. 

(If you control for class size, Chicago actually does better than Harvard in SCOTUS clerkships, I believe.) 

Chicago is also much better than NYU in academic placement and national placement. 

I would guess Chicago also does better in NYC placement for reasons of class size and NYU grads flooding the local market every year.  However, if you're not into academia or clerkships, I would probably base my decision on personal preference.  Make sure you visit both. 

[ccstarburst25]

Boston24--I have been unable to log into the admitted students site as well. As for aid, I think just financial but could be wrong.

Thanks everyone for your feedback! I visited NYU today and liked it, so I think I'm leaning in that direction...

[samsender78]

I'm in a similar situation. I just got in off Chicago's waitlist and am currently committed to NYU. I now have two weeks to accept or reject Chicago's offer.

I'm leaning toward NYU for the following reasons:

1. Larger size: Chicago likes to tout their small class as a benefit, but NYU really sold me on the benefits of a larger class: more clinics, more classes, more student groups.. in short, more opportunities. Access to professors really shouldn't be measured by total class size, anyway, but rather by the teacher/student ratio and NYU and Chicago have similar ratios. To Chicago's credit, however, their faculty certainly has a reputation for being extremely accessible.

2. Greater commitment to public interest law: I'm not completely set on public interest, but I was impressed by the resources NYU devotes in case I choose that route. They guarantee summer funding for both summers for PI internships. Also, their recently improved LRAP program is vastly superior to Chicago's (in my opinion).

3. Location: I admit this is more subjective, but I prefer NYC to Chicago.

4. Fin. Aid: This also probably applies only to me but NYU has offered me $20k/yr while Chicago has offered me nothing. I'm going to appeal for more aid from Chicago, but at this point even with an equal offer I'd probably choose NYU for the above reasons.

5. Student body: I could be way off here, but NYU seems to attract a more laid-back, liberal student body. Chicago seems to attract more academic, competitive types. I prefer the former.

What I like about Chicago:

1. Reputation/ranking: Most people would agree that Chicago has a better reputation historically than NYU. If trends in ranking are important to you, however, Chicago has been dropping over the past 10 years while NYU has been rising. Still, ask most people in (and out of) the legal community which school is "better," and it's my impression the majority would say Chicago.

2. Academics: Chicago, has a killer reputation for academics and SC clerk placement. As for the SC clerking however, I think this is somewhat self-fulfilling. Chicago naturally attracts more students interested in clerking because of their reputation for placement. Greater number of students interested then results in greater placement, and the circle continues. Chicago does have a top-notch faculty on par with HYS. My impression is that the teaching and faculty-student interaction is better at Chicago than at NYU (based on students I've talked with and Leiter's rankings).


Anyway, I feel lucky to be able to choose between such great schools, so I don't think anyone could really make a bad decision on this one. Now I just hope I don't get off of Columbia's or Harvard's waitlist, or I'll have to do this all over again.